Pink Teddy
by Nuit Songeur
Summary: Come, dear lieblings, and let me spin a story for you this day. A story filled with teenage insecurity, inevitable romance, and possibly some humor. Only one way to find out! Gather round in a circle. It all started with a pink teddy bear... One-shot


**A/N:** Happy Valentine's day! A simple one-shot for a Valentine's gift to my readers! And a shot at an omniscent point of view. And I think I'm getting post- Friday 13th bad luck. My computer unexpectantly shut down while in the middle of writing this and in when I was just finished with editing, it also randomly closes the window. So, after typing and editing it twice, I hope you love me!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own YuGiOh, Death Note, or Orlando Bloom.

**Warnings: **There's bound ot be typos. And, don't read if you don't like Anzu Mazaki.

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Ah, Valentine's day. A commercialized holiday designated for people to show and-slash-or share the love. It's one of those things that you either love it or you hate it. Or, maybe you can just be indifferent to it?.

Anyhow, as I was saying, Valentine's Day. I bet the first the thing that comes to mind is the color pink. I know it is for me. But, I'm not here to discuss Valentine's Day connotations, I'm here to share a story.

This year, February the fourteenth fell on a Saturday so I'm pretty sure most schools celebrated it on Friday the thirteenth. Which is all good, I suppose unless you happen to be paraskevidekatriaphobic. Oh, look at that! I used a big word. …Stop this! You're getting me distracted.

So, I suppose it all started with Téa, at her high school, busy at work on making her Valentine's cards to pass out to her friends. Because, that's what high schools do nowadays, isn't it? Let their students waste the day dispelling their creativity in making small gifties to their peers? Well, maybe not, but that's what this school did.

She had already completed the cards for Joey, Tristan, Mokuba, Rebecca, Duke, and Ryou. All that was left now was Yugi and Seto Kaiba. But she was still contemplating whether or not to even attempt at making Seto Kaiba one, he_ was_ an inconsiderate jerk after all. Even if she did happen to have a crush on him. But, that was beside the point; she knew already that any chance with him was lost.

So, in reality, all that was left was Yugi, the boy who had been her best friend practically her whole life. You're probably thinking why she left in making his card last of all, aren't you? Well, the answer is simple, Téa was in one of those dilemmas where she was unsure of how to exactly approach in making the card. Sure they were friends but she had the vibe that Yugi possibly had a crush on her. And, quite frankly, she was unsure if she returned those feelings but she did care about him enough to where she didn't want to hurt his.

So, the question: should the card be friend-themed or should she add a bit more flair by flirting with him, if only slightly? Flirting in the card could be taken as two ways: comical humor or in seriousness. Would Yugi be offended if she tried making it humorous? Or, did it happen that he didn't have a crush on her at all and flirting would be taken as a hit on him from her?

Keeping it friendship-themed, would seem to be as the easy way out but, however, another problem arose. If Yugi _did_ like her, she didn't want to crush all his hopes for his pursuit.

An interesting dilemma, indeed. And while Téa was sighing hopelessly at her desk, Seto Kaiba was busy in his, not making cards, mind you, but was, however, reading _A Tale of Two Cities_ by Charles Dickens. It was how he celebrated Valentine's day every year, being the only romance that he remotely read. But, now, he was finding it quite hard to concentrate on the words of Mr. Dickens as there were a group of idiotically giggling girls nearby, thrilled with the holiday. Every now and then, at quite a frequent pace, he would feel their infatuated glances and then the entire group would erupt into another fit of giggling. He found this quite annoying and very distracting. They knew he didn't have a single interest in any girl in the student body, so why did they persist in flirtatiously batting their fake eyelashes?

The only girl, Seto Kaiba noticed, who wasn't with the group in question was the Gardner girl, Téa. And, when he nondescriptly went to glance up at her, saw that she was busy glaring at a sheet of pink construction paper, as if it were the reason people celebrated pointless, commercialized holidays. Seto quickly turned his attention back to the best of times and the worst of times.

There was a formal dance that night, for Valentine's day. And even though dances weren't really his thing, maybe he would ask Gardner to it, in order to get the rest of the girls to shut up.

It was a fleeting thought however. And it wouldn't come into mind again until lunch.

Meanwhile, Yugi, the boy with tri-colored hair and wide eyes, the color of the February gemstone- amethyst- was busy tuning out the conversation of Joey and Tristan, in the far end of the room trying to think of what he was going to get his crush, Téa, for Valentine's day. Roses and chocolates, he thought, would be too forward, too direct, and would make everything awkward between them. So what then? He didn't want to settle on a simple card…

"Come on, Tristan," Joey pressed. "You gotta say who!" Tristan defiantly, with a large smirk, shook his head. Joey's loud, petulant voice brought Yugi to the present he remembered Joey was begging Tristan tell him who he was bringing to the dance that night. Tristan, however, was enjoying his little secret, knowing that Joey wasn't going to the dance because he hated formals and couldn't even tie a tie. But, Yugi secretly had an inkling that it more because Mai wouldn't be able to make it into town in time for it when Joey had called her just two days ago.

Yugi was surprised, though, at how Joey was unable to successfully guess Tristan's date. Serenity _was_ in town that weekend.

"Hey guys," Yugi spoke up, cutting into their conversation and resolving to ask for their advice no matter how much he would regret it. "Suppose there was a friend you wanted to give a Valentine's gift to but you were just friends with her. What would you get her?"

Joey and Tristan looked at each other uneasily, instantly knowing Yugi's hypothetical question was directed toward Téa. Because, seriously, they weren't idiots and even an idiot would notice at how Yugi liked her. Nonetheless, they were determined to help a friend in a need, or- more specifically- a friend in a critical situation.

When arriving the stage of manhood, or at least, near manhood, there was a point when you realized the subject of females was often a precarious thing. You couldn't be too subtle about anything because then, they got over-sensitive and then their feelings were hurt. However, if you were too outgoing with them, they would end up calling you a pervert and refuse to acknowledge your existence. In the world of males, there were very few who knew how to tread that delicate balance with ease and expertise. An example of one of these experts wwould be Duke or Orlando Bloom. And Light Yagami who had inevitably gotten himself killed in an attempt to dominate the world. However, that's a completely different story. But, there was those who could attract women without the wind needing to blow a strand of hair into one of those sexy, windblown appearances. Examples of these would we Seto Kaiba and Ryou Bakura.

However, the average guys, such as Tristan, Joey, and Yugi often had a tad bit more difficulty with tackling the world of women, seeing as they weren't a master of dice tricks, a celebrity, a maniacal serial killer, an indifferent CEO, or an exchange student in the possession of a British accent.

Nonetheless, they were often determined to venture out into this unknown and dangerous world of women.

"How about a teddy bear?" Joey suggested. "Girls like those kind of things."

Yugi thought for a moment and realized that what Joey had just said unbelievably made sense. So, wandering off inside his head again, Yugi took the idea into further consideration. With his unfocused gaze and contemplative silence, Joey turned to Tristan, arching a blond eyebrow. Tristan returned the reply of simply shrugging and Joey went back to pleading to know Tristan's date, all the while as Téa was mentally banging her head on something hard, painful, and hopefully something that would give her the answer she needed while she grasped her pencil tightly.

Lunch came around and, if you remember correctly, was when Seto Kaiba mused again with the idea of asking Téa Gardner to the formal. He wasn't particularly worried about what her answer would be. If she said yes, she said yes. If she said no, she said no. Either way, simply asking her would, hopefully, drive away his other admirers. The same ones who braved three lunch tables just to sit closer to him, even if they had two more to go to be right next to him.

Yugi had left campus to go get the teddy bear for Téa's Valentine's gift, which accounted for his absence. Of course, his alibi was that he was helping his grandfather clean the shop shelves for tomorrow's Valentine's sale. So, Téa was free to give Joey and Tristan their cards without worrying Yugi feeling left out because she still did not have his finished.

Joey and Tristan began to notice something off-hand with their female friend, at how her hair seemed ruffled, as if she had continuously ran her fingers through it and her face held faint pink marks, as though she had unconsciously scratched her face in frustration, as was her habit of handling unwanted stress. But then again, I suppose all stress is unwanted, unless you're some sort of sadistic psychopath…

"What's wrong, Téa?" Tristan asked. "You look… bothered." Téa looked up at him, wondering whether or not to divulge her problem to him. She almost did so but then thought that everything she said to them would get passed on to Yugi and she didn't want that.

"It's just Valentine's day," she said dismissively, waving a hand as a gesture to mean nothing of any significance was bothering her. Joey looked at her quizzically.

"Don't give us that," he said. "We've known you for a long time now, something's up."

"Yeah," agreed Tristan. "We'd think that you, of all people, would enjoy Valentine's day." Téa lifted a finger in defiance.

"Technically," she said. "Tomorrow is Valentine's day and today is Friday the Thirteenth."

"So what?" Joey asked. "You having bad luck?"

"I guess you could say that," she said absently, looking down at the tray of uneaten food that was her lunch. She groaned; what was she going to do?

It was then that Kaiba decided to invite her to the dance. Imperiously, he rose from his table and strode- with he air of an important mission- to the dork squad's table. Suppressing a smirk, he felt the apprehensive stares of his fan girl club.

When he reached the table, it was Joey and Tristan who noticed him first. Téa seemed to be off in her own little world. Joey and Tristan were silent as Seto Kaiba coughed, announcing his presence to Téa. She looked up and, upon realizing on who it was, felt her eyes widened with incredulity. Seto continued to suppress that smirk, thinking it wouldn't be a good idea to do so while asking for a date. But all the same, he sense an easy victory with Gardner.

Téa, however, did not feel the same triumphant victory that Seto Kaiba did. Perhaps because their was nothing for her to be victorious about. All the same, she could not fathom as to why Seto Kaiba would be standing in front of _her_, the female face of the widely-known dork squad, during lunch with a determined look into his expressionless, blue eyes. She became uneasy.

He didn't make his presence unknown for very long.

"I was wondering, Téa, if you would like to accompany me to the formal dance tonight." All three members of the dork squad quite visibly gaped at him. And Téa was the only one concerned about the fact it was the first time he had called her by name.

"You want to go to the dance with _me_?" she asked doubtfully. She saw the corners of his mouth twitch slightly in what would have been a smirk, but he kept his face neutral.

"Of course- it was what I just asked, was it not? The question was not directed at Joey."

She remained silent for a bit longer as he waited patiently for an answer, his face incredibly smug- as if he already knew what her answer would be.

She wasn't going to lie to herself; she _did_ want to go with him. But, at the same time, was she willing to not wait for Yugi anymore to step up with his statement of infatuation? Okay, maybe Kaiba didn't like her as much as she might have liked him, especially asking her last minute like this. Because, seriously, it _was _completely rude to ask someone to a date, last minute. But since it was Seto Kaiba, most mannerisms of society were usually forsaken with him.

Besides, her and Yugi were just friends, were they not? They were all going to the dance, with the exception of Joey, as friends. She really wouldn't be _betraying_ if she went with Kaiba; she would just have someone to dance with on the slow songs.

"I… uh-erm... Um, sure," she said, stuttering out her answer. And this time, Kaiba did smirk.

"I'll pick you up at six-thirty," he said smoothly, before swiftly turning away from them to return to his own lunch table, the gaping of disappointed fan girls fixed on him. Some crying, some comforting those who were crying and trying not to cry themselves.

The dork squad- whoops, I mean trio of Joey, Tristan, and Téa- were silent the rest of lunch. And for the time being, Téa was spared any confrontation. However, Tristan and Joey finally managed to speak to her when she was at her locker, stuffing textbooks in her it that she knew she wouldn't need for the rest of the day, if they were indeed going to spend precious time making Valentine's cards.

"Why Téa?! Why? Why did you say yes to Kaiba?" Joey demanded for what seemed like the sixth time. Or, maybe it was the seventh- she'd lost count after some time ago. And she was blushing fiercely.

"Just because you don't like him," she said through gritted teeth. "Besides, what's it to you? You're not going to the dance anyway."

"It's nothing to me but Yu-" Before he could get the rest out, Tristan had elbowed him in the ribs and Joey fell silent. Stunned, Téa turned around to face them, wide-eyed and blush miraculously gone.

Joey had been about to say Yugi, she knew it. So then, her fears were confirmed, Yugi _did_ like her. And she had just made a terrible mistake.

"Hey guys," said a cheerful voice that could only belong to one person. "What's up?" Joey and Tristan turned around and they all saw Yugi standing there, holding a particularly large shopping bag. And Téa realized he hadn't really been cleaning the shop for his grandfather.

_Oh no,_ she thought before turning away from the group and hurrying to get to her next class, one she was thankful that neither Joey, Tristan, or Yugi had with her. Yugi's smiled disappeared, just as Téa had.

"What's wrong with, Téa?" Yugi asked in a small voice. Joey and Tristan looked at each other uncertainly before quickly ushering Yugi to their Geometry class.

"Yugi," Tristan said as they dragged him. "There's something we have to tell you."

Seto Kaiba had been nearby throughout the occurrence at Téa's locker, not really eavesdropping because he didn't eavesdrop. More like coincidentally listening to their conversation. Which was basically the same thing really, only Seto Kaiba preferred not to call it eavesdropping because eavesdropping was what people with no lives did.

As the dork squad dispersed, he slinked away to his own class as well, with a thoughtful sigh.

"She did _what_?!" Yugi exclaimed in a hissing whisper. Unfortunately for them, their Geometry teacher didn't believe in celebrating the widely-loved holiday. So they were stuck listening to a boring lecture of angular proofs.

"Seto Kaiba came over to our table, asked her to the dance, and she said yes," Joey repeated for the third time. Tristan interjected, trying to cheer Yugi up.

"But she seemed really hesitant about it so I happen to think that she did it to not hurt his feelings," he said, with a forced smile. Yugi, however was not looking at that forced smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Yugi mumbled but he didn't sound too convincing. Joey and Tristan looked at each other, as they did when they unsure of what to do and remained quiet, leaving Yugi to his own thoughts and not knowing how to cheer him up.

The rest of the day passed, mostly uneventful as Téa continued to avoid Joey, Tristan, but mostly Yugi as she was too insecure in her own feelings to know how to approach him. She couldn't help but think that she should be making him a card that said "I'm sorry" instead of "Happy Valentine's Day." This was really turning out to be a Friday the Thirteenth chockfull of bad luck.

When Yugi, Joey, and Tristan were walking to Solomon Mutou's game shop, Joey and Tristan started asking him questions.

"You _are_ going to the dance tonight, aren't you?" Tristan asked. Yugi looked up to him, his face partially concealed by the large bag holding Téa's Valentine's present.

"Of course, Tristan. I've already bought my ticket. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because of Téa," Joey blurted out, which earned another elbow in the ribs, courtesy of Tristan.

"So Téa has a date. We should be happy for her. She _is_ our friend. And I've got to find some way to give her this thing." He nodded toward the bag.

"You mean you're still going to give it to her?" Joey asked incredulously. Tristan graced him with another elbow to the ribs, slightly harder than before. "Cut it out!" Joey snapped.

"Of course he's still going to give it to her, moron," said Tristan. "Yugi's just a nice gentleman like that. And like Yugi said, she _is_ our friend. Just because _you_ don't have a date to the dance and bailed out on us…" Tristan and Joey argued the rest of the way to the game shop, playfully of course, which made Yugi's mood brighten up and even made him laugh a few times.

Meanwhile, Téa was, like any girl would, freaking out over her formal outfit. The sash to her knee-length, sparkly purple dress mysteriously went MIA and her mother bought her a pair of shoes whose color did not match with perfectly with the dark shade of the dress. Not to mention, her younger sister had gotten into her make-up collection again and stole her mascara. And not just _any_ mascara, her good, non-clumping, eyelash-lengthener mascara.

"Mom!" she shrieked, finally unable to take anymore of it.

"Just calm down, Téa," she said, bustling into the room, missing sash in hand and a weary expression plastered on her face. "What's wrong now?"

"Cofé stole my mascara again, the good one." Her mother sighed.

"Whatever shall we do?" she asked sarcastically.

Eventually, Téa was able to retrieve the stolen mascara and was convinced by her mother to wear her sequined, black high-heel shoes instead, saying she'd more likely impress everyone with her perfected balance in them rather than in the wrongly-colored flats. Téa was remotely surprised she was ready to go when Seto Kaiba came to ring the doorbell at precisely six-thirty.

When Téa went to answer it, she saw him standing there, with all his glory, in a black tuxedo and blue tie that matched exactly with his eyes. Téa found herself blushing fiercely as she took his proffered arm and called out a goodbye to her mom, before shutting the door behind her. Seto led her down the porch steps and to an awaiting limo parked on the curb.

Without a word, he opened the door for her and she climbed inside. The ride to the school was silent, which made Téa feel extremely restless, feeling regret about leaving Yugi in his predicament and guiltly about still not having made him a card. She was a horrible friend, a terrible friend indeed…

They made it to the school in due time and headed strait for the gymnasium. When they had entered the gym, everyone inside had fallen into silence at their presence and Téa realized that she was blushing again and was thankful that the gym was dark- hopefully enough to conceal her embarrassment. Casually and with one arm around her waist, Seto led her inside. With excruciating slowness, the crowd of people became engulfed back into conversation, slightly more animated than Téa would think as normally. And she didn't have to guess hard to know why.

"Relax," Seto said under his breath. "It's a dance, you're suppose to have fun."

Téa sighed. It wasn't long ago that she had dreamed of this moment, of Seto taking her to the formal dance. It was something that had been the star of her fantasies for quite some time. But now, when she was actually living it, her thoughts weren't of careless bliss but rather filled with concern for Yugi. And, she realized that Yugi occupied a part of her mind that he had never had before.

For over half of the dance, Téa did not catch sight of Yugi, or of Tristan with Serenity for that matter, and she began to get a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Did they not come to the dance because of her?

They had played five slow songs, so far. And, for all five of them, she had danced with Kaiba- her arms encircled around his neck and his hands resting lightly on her waist. She avoided eye contact with him, a feat nearly impossible as he stared at her nonstop for practically ninety-nine percent of the time.

"You seem distracted," he said. She had merely shrugged.

It was thirty minutes before the dance was suppose to end that she finally caught sight of Tristan dancing with an exuberant Serenity. And, it wasn't until the song ended that she saw Yugi as well, smiling and off to the side holding an enormous pink teddy bear.

She froze, staring disbelievingly at the bear and with wide eyes. Yugi was here? With a teddy bear? Why?

She felt a small prod in her back from Kaiba who had noticed the direction of her gaze. She looked up at him to see him smiling. No, not smiling. Kaiba couldn't smile. It was a smirk, almost a smile but not quite.

"Go on," he said. She gaped at him.

"What do mean?"

"I mean 'go on.' Yugi seems like he's waiting for you."

"But what about-" Kaiba was shaking his head, smirk gone and replaced by a frown.

"Don't worry about it. I could care less." She looked at him one more time for quite a long moment before taking a first hesitant step toward Yugi. When she was sure that Kaiba wasn't playing a cruel joke on her, she hurried along to her best friend.

"Happy Valentine's day!" he said, with a broad grin stretched across his small face and holding up the large teddy bear to her. She took it without a word. "You look very nice," he said. She blushed, yet again.

"Thank you, Yugi. For the compliment and the gift. It was very sweet of you."

"It was no problem. That's what friends are for." It was after he said as such that Yugi realized that he screwed up with the word "friend" and was reduced to blushing as well, scratching the nape of his neck uncomfortably, because he wanted to more than friends with Téa but just didn't know how to express as such. She was so willing to leave Kaiba, her date, and he just had to screw everything up.

It was then that the DJ of the danced played the last slow song of the night and Téa, noticing Yugi's sudden shyness, decided to pluck up the courage for once.

"Would you like to dance, Yugi?" she asked, with a smile. Yugi looked up at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"S-s-sure," he agreed, stumbling on his words. Téa smiled and set down her gift on a nearby, unoccupied bleacher. Feeling a rush of unrestrained adrenaline and excitement, she grabbed Yugi's hand and took him out onto the main dance floor. She placed her hands around his neck and he took her waist as they began to sway in time to the music.

"Yugi," she said after a while. "I want to say I'm sorry for today." He looked puzzled.

"What's there to apologize for?" he asked.

"You see," she admitted. "I never made you a card because I didn't know what to put on it and now I feel especially bad since you got me the bear." Yugi laughed.

"It's no problem," he said, feeling a sudden a burst of courage. "I know of a way you can make up for it."

"What's that?" she asked. They stopped swaying and Yugi looked up at her, mentally cursing the fact that he had to be so short. At least he'd gained a few inches since Yami left but then she had to go and wear high-heels.

"As long as you promise to be my Valentine," he said, breaking into an even bigger smile than before. Téa was unsure of what to say so she gave a simple nod and didn't move when Yugi reached up on his toes to kiss her.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it! I'm not really used to writing fluff but I think it was okay, not train-wreck disastrous. And, note- slightly inspired from my own experience last night. At least, with the pink teddy bear.

Please review, and Happy Valentine's day!

**_-Nuit Songeur_**


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